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RUGBY: Eastmond gets nod for final All Blacks Test

ENGLAND have overhauled their backline for Saturday's final Test against New Zealand in Hamilton with Bath's Kyle Eastmond and Manu Tuilagi reunited in the centres.

The experiment of playing Tuilagi on the wing has been abandoned after just one match, although head coach Stuart Lancaster insists it will be revisited in the future.

Making his first start since the autumn, the revitalised Chris Ashton returns in the number 14 jersey for the Waikato Stadium encounter.

The Billy Twelvetrees and Luther Burrell partnership that flourished throughout the RBS 6 Nations has been disbanded following the 28-27 defeat in Dunedin that completed a series triumph for the All Blacks.

Instead, Eastmond and Tuilagi have been offered the stage to reproduce the fireworks that lit up Eden Park in the first Test in a selection Lancaster insists is based on form.

Twelvetrees has paid for his erratic display at the Forsyth Barr Stadium with Lancaster admitting it was a "big step" for him to play his first match since May 3 in that game.

Fitness was an issue for Twelvetrees having been sidelined by an ankle injury for six weeks, and while he will be given another chance at a later date, there is a sense that England are losing patience with the Gloucester playmaker.

"This is a reflection of us feeling that the centre partnership worked better in first Test than in he second," said Lancaster, who has picked Burrell on the bench.

"We are still finding out which players can and can't really deliver at the highest level.

"We've had a good chance to look at Billy during the course of the season.

"Kyle's had one opportunity and he's taken it. Now's the right time to give him a second chance.

"Billy wasn't that far off it at the weekend, but when I look at the two games I thought Kyle edged him."

Owen Farrell's tour-ending knee problem means Freddie Burns, another standout player at Eden Park, starts at fly-half with Ben Youngs holding off a strong challenge from Lee Dickson in the absence of shoulder-injury victim Danny Care.

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